Chief Black Kettle was a legendary chief and will always be remembered as a chief who led his tribe well. Black Kettle led the Cheyenne tribe in 1861. He was a very peaceful man who put the intersts of his own people over his own agenda. He wished for peace, I think that is one of the best qualities to look for peace. Black Kettle didn't lead his warriors into slaguhter. Instead he looked to escape harm and yielded whenever possible. He believed that the natives could truly be friends with the settlers. He offered to help the white settlers in a way that didn't even bother the native tribes. He wanted his tribe and the settler civilization to be allies. It was this attitude which got him an audience with President Abraham Lincoln. I think Chief Black Kettle could have made the cheyenne and settlers allies. However, he was murdered by George Custer. Black Kettle was definetly a legendary chief.
Black Kettle, the chief of the Cheyenne tribe in Colorado, was a very peaceful leader who struggled for the equality of the Cheyenne people. Much like Crazy Horse, Black Kettle fought for his people, yet he wasn’t prone to fighting. He wanted and believed in the coexistence of the Native Americans and the settlers without violence. This is the similar tactic that Martin Luther King, Jr. took. Both men wanted freedom and equality, but they would not be violent in order to gain it. Black Kettle tried to gain this equality by signing treaties to gain rights for the Cheyenne. These treaties include the Treaty of Little Arkansas in 1865 and the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867. His ongoing hope for peace and equality with the settlers can be seen in quote by him. The quote is “Although the troops have struck us, we throw it all behind and are glad to meet you in peace and friendship.” Black Kettle’s peaceful tactics are what made him a legendary chief.
Personally, I think that Black Kettle was a good chief for wanting to go about things without violence. Yet, I think that if he had decided to really fight back, he would have made more of an imprint on the settlers. The settlers knew Black Kettle wouldn’t fight back with violence; therefore they kept breaking their promises from the treaties and eventually killed him, his wife, and part of his tribe on November 27, 1868.
Chief Black Kettle was kind of like Crazy horse in the way they both loved their tribe ad people. They fought for their freedom and their people without the whole fighting/violence thing. Chief Black Kettle joined the Southern Cheyenne tribe in 1832. Then a few decades later, because he showed such interest and leadership, he became chief of the Wuhtapiu group of the Cheyenne. (this is all in Colorado) He was such a a great chief for many reasons. He decided not to take violence as a way of solving problems, he was such a peaceful man and decided to use peace in order to solve problems. Like Jessie said, Chief Black Kettle is definitely almost the same as Martin Luther King, Jr. They both used the same ways to solve problems and to get their point apart. No matter how much other people fought, Chief and MLKJ always said yes to peace and no to violence.
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Molly Buring
2/7/2010 06:40:21 am
my sources were: Jessie's and Arjun's posts my head http://www.legendsofamerica.com/NA-BlackKettle.html
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Jessica Reed
2/8/2010 11:20:20 pm
*A little fun fact*: The day Black Kettle died, November 27, 1868, is my birthday!
Source: myself
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